How Bad Do You REALLY Want It?

Saturday, November 25th, 2017

During a recent holiday, I was spending time with my children, enjoying their company while catching up on what’s been going on in their lives. It was in the midst of our celebrations that I received a video of a speech I’d given a few weeks before and I…was…mortified.

Although I should have been looking at the footage to see where I could improve my oratory skills or which points I’d made that prompted the best audience response, I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the middle aged belly that was on my body. The belly that I swore I’d never have. Apparently I’d overlooked it in my mirror every morning, but video doesn’t lie, so there it was taking up more of the screen than I had realized.

Because they love me and could see the astonishment on my face, my kids did their best to make me feel better. “You were probably just bloated,” they said. What? Guys don’t get bloated! I was fat!

It was then and there, at that moment in time, that I said, “Enough”. While I may have let myself go to that point, I wasn’t going to let it get any worse. I was going to do something about it…right now.

Well, if you know me, then you know that I love pizza. I would seriously eat it five times a day if I could. Yet, I wanted to lose my newly-realized gut more than I wanted a slice of that cheesy heaven, so two months went by and I had no pizza at all. None. Not even a nibble.

Even now I only eat it on rare occasions. It’s not nearly as often as I’d like, but it has been worth giving up because making changes like this to my diet has made it possible to lose 10 pounds in about seven weeks. Good-bye my middle aged gut!

Often, it takes something like this, that a-ha moment, that causes a sort of flipping of the switch where you declare that you’ve had enough. You suddenly realize with a new sense of urgency that something needs to change. You also have a newfound dedication to get it done.

The reality is, if you want something bad enough, you will make it happen. Once the pain of the situation reaches a certain threshold, once you’ve finally reached your breaking point, you’ll feel as if you have no choice but to make changes…and you will accept nothing less.

This underscores the importance of wanting to achieve your goals so badly that there is no other option but success. To help create this a-ha moment, this shift, or this urgency in yourself, it helps to realize why something is so important to you. Why do you want it?

Once you figure this out, let your why, your reasons for change, motivate you and push you to make it a reality. Remind yourself of your why during the difficult times, the times you just want to quit. Let it pull you up when you’re down, then let it carry you across the finish line.

You’ve gotta really want something in order to make it happen. Figure out your why and then for sure.. you will.